John Barton goes to Parliament on behalf of the Chartists to present their grievances to the governement. He is representing the people of Manchester and they tell him all they want to say (131). On the way to Parliament, he and the other delagetes get yelled at by a policeman and they're dismissed out of hand. Barton becomes angry and he "seldom spoke, less than ever; and often when he did speak, they were sharp angry words" (164). Parliament, as a location, represents a rejection of the working class and the arrogance of the upper class. Although the main conflict of Mary Barton involves the working class and the middle class, this location invokes the small appearance of the landowners.

Gaskell, Elizabeth Mary Barton edited Jennifer Foster, Broadview Literary Editions 1848